I NEEDED A TAXI to go from Makati City to the domestic airport. Before I could sit comfortably at the back seat, the driver told me that I had to pay 250 pesos. I told the driver that I was getting off the car if he would not use the taxi meter. When the meter was flagged down, I felt more at ease. It did not take a few minutes, however, after we left Makati that the driver told me that I had to pay him 150 pesos even if the taxi meter was on.

On Tuesday, Feb. 09, the campaign period for president and other national officials will formally begin. Of course, our aspirants have long been campaigning already. But what matters now is that each of us who will cast our votes must be a discerning voter.

MY FATHER is a constant cynic when it comes to media personnel. It hurts me, because primarily, I work with and for media-although indirectly. I teach Media Studies in a university. My students-should they persevere in their respective disciplines-will be our journalists and/or broadcasters a few years hence. But I very well understand my father, his experiences with the media hollering around to get his views and to extract information from him in his capacity as one of the chiefs of our state railway agency were frequented with disappointments like interview answers edited to fit the taste of the person...

Oh, we know our place. We know almost every corner, every tree and wall, every neighbor and dog in the place we live. We know every move and sound; we even know the smell of mornings and evenings. We know our place so well that we no longer see what all is so special about it, as it has already become something regular, something granted. Only in times when a foreign visitor gets to see our place for the first time that we get reminded of how special and how precious in fact the place - our place - is. It is by what the foreigner shares and recognizes as remarkable that we see things once again and with other eyes.

A few days ago, I received an email from Doods Santos of De La Salle University. For those who know Doods or Dr. Santos (formally to many), she is a Bikol literature scholar always looking for manuscripts and compiling them under titles and rubrics. Poems about Bikol, works about Bikol and the storms, etc. The email last week simply announced that she found a poem of mine from an old compilation.

The furor caused by the statements made by former Naga City Mayor Sulpicio "Cho" Roco in a citizens' forum held at the Ateneo de Naga University last January 26 provokes closer examination.

MANILA, Feb. 5 -- Inter-agency cooperation among the Philippine Navy and local authorities in Bikol resulted to the recovery of 400 flitches of illegally cut logs and capture of a vessel engaged in illegal fishing, it was reported Friday.

The never-ending quest for advancement through digital modernization spreads even through the nooks and corners of traditional libraries. Literacy innovations became an aim, not just for educators but also for librarians. They challenge themselves to make this comprehension available in every information alley. The digital distribution of information became a must ---- and libraries are not spared from this.

The LGU Guarantee Corporation recently granted Philippine Veterans Bank a P1.0 Billion Automatic Guarantee Line (AGL) for Qualified Local Government Unit Debt Instruments. The AGL will be used initially by PVB in its recently arranged LGU bond and loan facilities to attract prospective co-funders. LGUGC and PVB are working further to enhance its cooperation and partnership in order to strengthen the credit market for the LGUs.

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) registered strong business volume and revenue growth in 2009. Full year unaudited income rose to P8.5 billion, 33% higher than 2008 and equivalent to a 13% Return on Equity and 1.3% Return on Assets. Correspondingly, net income for the fourth quarter of 2009 was 7% better than 2008.